I'm trying to help out a family member who has a Lionel Cab Forward--did these engines ever routinely head up any passenger consists? What would be a nice caboose to pair up with this engine?
Thanks.
Norm
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I've seen footage of them pulling passenger trains but it was not too common. They did do helper service with passenger trains though. The wood C-30-1 was very common as were later the the steel C-40s cupola caboose. Many C30s were rebuilt in steel and resembled C-40s with their taller cupolas. The only definitive model I am aware of a 3 rail SP caboose was 3rd Rail's C-30-1. There may be others including bay windows that are close. Here is a good site for photos.
Pete
Pentrex has an excellent video on the Cab Forwards, covering all the classes:
http://www.pentrex.com/pccfdvd.html
and yes, they did pull passenger trains fairly regularly.
Rusty
I rode behind an AC on the Daily Argonaut between Lordsburg and El Paso in 1950. I saw a lot of bay window cabeese on the tail end of steam powered freights. I also saw Harriman passenger cars used as cabeese.
there is some passenger footage in this Youtube Preview .... this was a nice locomotive....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gylvu9Dxyo&feature=player_embedded
I hesitate to mention this in the same breath as the Sunset 3rd Rail model but K-Line made a great SP extended vision caboose that is still in stock at Western Depot. See it here: http://www.westerndepot.com/pr...php/products_id/2454
I run one of these behind my Lionel RS5 AC-12.
SNOW ON THE RUN, filmed by the SP during the formidable winter of 1951-1952 and available from Pentrex, shows a Cab-Forward or two heading passenger trains during blizzards that brought a total of 790 inches - more than 65 feet - of snow on the Sacramento Division.
They were even emergency power for the Daylight on occasion.
Yes, cab forwards were often used in passenger service on the SP especially in the High Sierras. And yes, the K-Line SP 'bay window' caboose is appropriate for this engine except for those optical scan markings on each side of the caboose. And as previously pointed out, the Sunset 3rdRail brass SP-30-1 caboose is a perfect compliment for the later cab forwards.
Actually, that design is called a bay window caboose. An extended vision caboose is the one with the overhanging cupola on top. A bay window caboose would go quite well with a Cab Forward; I frequently run that same K-Line caboose with mine. The extended vision style would be too modern. Scale size SP bay window cabooses have also been made by Atlas (Trainman), MTH, and Lionel. The scale size Lionel item is hard to find; most of the ones you see on the Bay are traditional size. The MTH is a pretty good model but has those awful turn of the century trucks on it.
Originally Posted by Hancock52:
I hesitate to mention this in the same breath as the Sunset 3rd Rail model but K-Line made a great SP extended vision caboose that is still in stock at Western Depot. See it here: http://www.westerndepot.com/pr...php/products_id/2454
I run one of these behind my Lionel RS5 AC-12.
Actually the Western Depot K-Line bay window, while nice (I have two of them) is a generic model of bay window caboose that's not really based on a specific SP prototype (SP designed and built their own cabooses).
The other model that would be appropriate for the cab forward is the Atlas O Trainman C-30-6 baywindow since it's based on an actual SP design.
